Re: "Science to decide fate of pipeline, Harper says," and "Unelected team to run big sewage project," Aug. 8.
It appears Prime Minister Stephen Harper is finally wavering from his hardened, push-on approach to the Gateway pipeline. While he's most assuredly doing this for political purposes, the environment may yet get a break.
In Greater Victoria, we push on inexorably toward our own monumentally expensive environmental disaster. For decades, experts have been virtually unanimous: The current sewage system is the best possible for our unique geographic reality. Commitment to a brand-new system was a political decision made years ago. The science of the day (which is still valid today) was ignored, and continues to be ignored.
We now read that "unelected technical experts" will take over the project which will catastrophically degrade our environment and add hundreds of dollars annually to everyone's tax bill ... forever. We can only hope that these new experts will join the scores already on record and recommend that we only need to maintain and appropriately upgrade the current excellent system.
C. Stephen Smith
Victoria
